When Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motors was quoted as saying; “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”he could have been talking about the conveyancing industry.
Frankly, we read too many articles by armchair experts about how technology is revolutionising the way that lawyers work, when in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Not being funny, but when a law firm implements an online form and this is considered newsworthy, we know that the adoption of new technology is not exactly high on your average lawyer’s agenda.
Whilst we know that high street Stegosaurus solicitors struggle to embrace even the smallest changes, what is even more disappointing is when new entrants merely copy how they did things at their previous firms. Whilst they might actually implement case management systems, this is merely putting a new shade of lipstick on the conveyancing pig. The reality is that the majority still use paper files, raise irrelevant enquiries that they do not track and suffer from bottlenecks caused by relying on a minority of experienced individuals that actually understand conveyancing.
Until we see genuine changes in the way that lawyers use software to address case tracking, problem analysis and caseload management, everyone is going to continue to suffer from the frustrations caused by poor communication, inefficiency and tedious, drawn-out transactions.
I mean, let’s face it – even if a horse could run at 70 miles per hour, you really wouldn’t choose it over an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, if you had to get to Manchester on a wet Tuesday, would you?